Sovereigns of the Night
by EnergiyaB
Summary: A college student meets the fabled 'Queen of the Night': A monarch that turns out to be completely different than he thought. Planned series. Lemon.
1. We Look Out Upon the Sea

It was late at night. It was 2 AM to be exact. I couldn't sleep.

The soft green light that emanated from the digits on my clock and the whirring sound coming from my dorm's ceiling fan seemed to be conspiring to keep me awake. No matter what I did and no matter which way I repositioned myself on the bed, I just couldn't fall asleep.

I tried lying on my back, then I tried shuffling over onto my side. I even tried cuddling one of my additional pillows in an effort to get comfortable. Sometimes, I desperately wished that I was indeed sharing the bed with someone else...

This feeling is not unusual for me, as I have been an insomniac for the better part of my life. I have experienced phases like this for years and even though I have gone to specialist after specialist for my condition and taken so many medications that I had turned into a walking pharmacy, I still haven't been able to break out of this infernal cycle. Unfortunately, this is one of those months where I just can't fall asleep. Most of my nights are spent like this, staring at the Stone Roselias poster on the wall across from my bed in the dim mid-evening light of my single occupancy dorm room.

On a daily basis, my mind has been engaged in a constant war with itself over whether I should try to stick out my affliction or whether I should just give up and watch TV. Tonight, the side of my brain that wanted me to stay put was losing horribly. I needed to do something. This tepid boredom was going to kill me before any of the side effects of my illness. I just couldn't take this anymore.

Stumbling out of bed, I nearly tripped over my ever-expanding pile of unwashed clothes on the way to the light switch. The fluorescent light stung my eyes for a few seconds, even though I attempted to shield them by squinting.

It was odd that I felt so opposite of sleepy, yet I still arose from bed feeling groggy, like I had had too much to drink and went to bed without brushing my teeth. I was probably sleep deprived, suffering from a lack of time to recharge my body and to settle my mind.

The doctors I went to for my insomnia always said that my condition was aggravated by periods of stress in my life and this first year at university was definitely stressful so far. They all said that this was what university was going to be like this. Little sleep and constant work. Although the latter was true and I adjusted, I was beginning to feel as though I would be content with normally getting the three or four hours of sleep that most students complained about in my early morning lectures.

Tonight, I knew that those nice few hours of rest would not come to me and I didn't feel like trying anymore and I also didn't feel like wasting time in my room.

While quickly getting dressed, I grabbed my IPod off of my desk and with a quick motion, I laced up my runners and was out the door and into the crisp autumn air.

It was this type of evening that reminded me of my Stoutland, Rupert. He was always ready to go out for a walk with me on an evening like this. Although I was unable to really communicate with him, I always appreciated the company that he gave. He passed on a few months before I packed my bags to come here. They say you never really appreciate things in life until they are truly taken from you. I was sure feeling that right now.

I missed him, but I had to get past it. There was no sense in dwelling on the past. Especially when I was already stressed out of my mind. I was forced to shake the thought of my companion from my mind and tried to march onwards, trying to free my mind from the weights of reality. I needed to escape.

The campus was deserted at this time of night. No smokers were hovering around the doorways and there were no drunken people collapsed in the flower beds as had been the case last weekend. It was the perfect evening to take a walk.

I plugged my headphones into the jack of my IPod and soon I was listening to my favourite podcast. "Shore to Shore AM", a show about the supernatural and the strange. Tonight's episode was one about a local legend. Apparently a simpleton from town was out drunk on the beach with his girlfriend when he was visited by some nature goddess who yelled at him to get off of the sand or he would get pelted by chunks of molten rock. The host of the program listened to him intently, taking his claims seriously and not the work of having too many shots. Of course, he never mentioned that every seismologist who ever studied the mountain range that encircled our town said that those peaks were as dead as volcanoes could get.

Most people I know would have still gotten at least a little bit freaked out walking alone while listening to people telling stories of how aliens abducted them or ancient deities were talking to them, but I mostly just got a laugh out of the show. I still can't believe how some people could take some of this stuff seriously, but then again, I don't understand how some people could not like being out late at night.

I know that statistically that a lot of violent crimes happen during the evening and that once or twice someone was mugged just outside the campus but I just don't feel in any way uneasy about walking around in the dead of night. To me, it just seems to be a natural thing to be out at this time. Maybe it is just due to my recurring illness, but I can't help but feel some sort of connection to this hour of the day. I feel more alive now than at any other time of the day. Perhaps I was meant to be nocturnal...

...Or maybe, I was just a Zubat in another life. Now that was an interesting thought.

Regardless, I trudged on in the dark, listening to various stories of close encounters.

One of the nice things about the campus was its location. In the brochures, it was advertised as being on one of the nicest plots of land on the entire continent, complete with a beach, palm trees and row upon row of tropical flowers around every building.

Tonight, I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy it. By following the path out of the campus, I was met by some of the most beautiful terrain I have ever seen. Of course, it was only lit by the dim light of the crescent moon, but still, it was very nice.

Before any human arrived here, this place was the site of a couple active volcanoes that covered the land with lava and ash. For millennia, no one would come near this place. The native peoples of the land each had legends about how this place was cursed, one of which talked of how the earth would open up and eat whoever came near it and spit them out in the form of the red rock that littered the landscape. Even after the volcanoes went dormant centuries ago, they still stayed away, frightened of how much a bad omen this place was.

In all of their stories, one theme recurred. There was always a goddess. A goddess of the night, who preyed on humans and liked to exact pain on those who trespassed on her domain for fun. At times, she was depicted as a queen, a half-human, half-beast hunter of both men and women alike. On other occasions, when she was especially angry, she took it out whole villages by leveling them in a storm of fury. Her name was Aysel, and it was said that she hurled the first molten rocks from the spine of mountains that line this stretch of land that I now call home.

In fact, this place still was empty until the first unknowing Europeans decided to build a settlement here. It was probably the only area where they didn't end up evicting the original occupants of the land.

Now, all that remains of these mountains are their legacy of deep red igneous rock that still covers much of the countryside. Tourists like taking it home with them, as it is a good reminder of the beauty of this place. This rough type of jagged rock often protrudes out of the ground like the teeth of some snarling beast, and yet are nearly always surrounded by some of the most colourful of rainforest flowers, growing lush from the abundance of nutrients stored in the volcanic stone.

It is an odd paradigm, the combination of such roughness with such unsurpassed prettiness, but it is one that one can get used to.

As I continued to walk down the path, I came to the edge of the campus and continued. The walkway began to wind its way down to where the land met the ocean.

Along the shore itself, broken down pieces of this place's unique rock has accumulated to form a beautiful crimson beach that stretches for miles in each direction along the water. All of the sharpness of the rock worn away by the lapping of the waves and the onward march of time.

Usually, this place was packed with families of tourists and beach vendors hawking everything from sunglasses to jewellery made of the red rock. The noise of the crowd usually kept me away from the place during the day and I rarely ventured here unless I was invited by one of my friends.

However, during the night, during my time, I had this place much to myself. Occasionally, there was the odd couple making out somewhere down the long stretch of red, but they usually weren't a problem. Tonight, I could not see a single soul on the strip.

Right before the pathway gave way to the scarlet sand, I removed my sneakers and my earbuds and just let the sound of the water fill my ears and the soft grains cover my toes. The feeling was almost baptismal. I suddenly felt free, forgetting all of my sleep problems.

Maybe I was meant to be like this. I'm lucky in that I do not suffer from some of the more acute symptoms of insomnia when I go on one of these phases. Maybe I'm not meant to escape this and I should just accept that this is who I am. Steven, the nocturnal student.

The sand provided a good seat to rest on. The granules were smooth and fine, as worn down as I was feeling in my dorm. I sighed as I listened to the waves casually slosh against the dark shoreline in front of me. This was going to be a long night. Luckily, I still had an hour left to go on my show.

As soon as I was beginning to feel physically comfortable and mentally content with resting on the beach, I heard a rustling of vegetation behind me and a crack of a branch being broken underfoot.

I knew the place well and it did not even phase me. I was close to the water's edge and far enough away from the tree-laden dunes behind me where the intruder might have been. Although I wasn't afraid, I did casually look behind me, curious as to who or what it could be.

Strangely, I did see something. Something other than human moving around back there. I strained my eyes to get a good glimpse, but my inept human eyes could not make out anything distinct. All I could see was a black mass, a little smaller than a child crawling amongst the undergrowth.

It crept along on all fours, creeping along the ground, trying to flatten itself against the terrain. It was most likely someone's runaway Persian that was stalking some kind of small rodent in the dark. People had plenty of them around here and they were always a nuisance down at the campus, always trying to sneak into the buffeteria and steal food when the cooks weren't looking.

The cat was probably harmless and I didn't feel like staring at it all night, so I decided to ignore it and focus on my podcast.

However, in a twist of fate that evening, the pokemon would not let me go the way I did to it. After a few minutes of staring into the water and listening to a debate playing on my earbuds over whether or not grey aliens were mutilating Miltanks in Ohio, the little pokemon crept into my field of vision once more.

I could see it again in my peripheral vision, slowly sauntering over to me, getting closer and closer. As it did, I could see that it wasn't a Persian. It wasn't the right size and it had bright red glowing eyes, as red as the sand that lay below its feet and it was leering right at me...

"Who dares to trespass on the hallowed ground of the great hunter Aysel?" bellowed a loud female voice. I jumped out of my seat, landing a few inches from my original spot, my earbuds falling into the sand below me.

My heart skipped a beat and my body shivered in a rare moment of fright. I looked around, trying to find a source for such a powerful declaration. My god... err... goddess. Maybe that man was right and she was coming back to punish us?

For a bit, I panicked, too scared to move off my ass yet not scared enough to stop my head from twitching in every direction, looking for an angry deity. However, no matter what direction I turned my head, I could not find any goddesses of myth.

"Leave this place at once!" she continued, intent on driving me back off her pristine beach.

If there is one thing that I actually learned from the ridiculousness that was Shore to Shore is that you can never take anything at face value. There was always a logical explanation to this kind of thing. There had to be. You just got to think like Scully and not Mulder.

Then it dawned on me. The pokemon was now sitting right next to me, still staring at me with piercingly red eyes.

"Were you the one who just yelled at me?" I asked to the form next to me, in a pitch that was quite annoyed, now that I was not so frightened.

"Yes... erm..." This time stumbling over her words as she continued to yell directly into my ear. "No! I am not this pokemon beside you. I am the spirit of this land seeking revenge for your trespasses!"

"Look, I don't know who or what you are, but I would appreciate it if you didn't scream at me when I am right next to you." I replied, my eardrums stinging painfully from the cacophony of her voice.

I could tell that she was getting angry. No reply to that came back from her, but I could hear a guttural growling and for a moment, the moonlight reflected off of her snarling incisors.

"Look, I'm sorry." I apologized, trying to switch tactics. "I didn't mean to offend you. I just don't know what you are upset about."

"I'm upset because I am Aysel, queen of the night..." her voice now at a normal level, which quickly trailed off midsentence. "You're not buying this... Are you?" she asked in a low tone.

"No... I must apologize again." I said in response.

"Damn it!" she cursed. "I knew you weren't going to be as easy as those two other humans I scared away a few days ago..."

"So that was what gave him that vision." I said, half to myself. "I just thought he was smashed out of his mind."

"You knew those humans?" she asked, still annoyed with me.

"Well, I know of them. The guy ended up telling his side of the story over the radio and a lot of people ended up hearing about it." I explained. "Although I was not convinced by him, I think a lot of other people were."

"hmmm... Hopefully they will learn to stay away next time." She contemplated. "They were such an noisy, ugly pair of humans. What made it even worse was how they were openly mating on my beach! The nerve of some people. They hog the beach all day and when it's my turn to enjoy it, they just disturb my peace by going at it like a pair of Sealeos, all fat and blubbery.

I was more amused than disgusted by her choice of words, and laughed a bit immaturely.

"I'm surprised that you could see me approach you." She finally noted after I had finished giggling. "I always thought that humans had poor eyesight. I've always used that to my advantage when chasing you guys away from my territory."

"We do." I replied, in explanation. "I guess my eyes are just a bit better then the average 'cause I spend nearly every night outside."

"So you are nocturnal, as I am?" she asked. "That is also unusual for a human."

"Yes. Very unusual..." I replied, not really wanting to go into the details of my illness. "...but even so, I still can't really make out any details about you even from this distance. All that I can see is just some dark shape sitting next to me, probably about half my size."

"Oh... " she responded. "Perhaps I should make myself a little more visible."

All of a sudden, I was nearly blinded by a flash of bright light. In an instant, the area was illuminated in a soft yellow glow.

As my eyes began to get adjusted, I realized who was sitting next to me. Only now were her distinctive amber rings showing off their full bioluminescent potential.

"Wow, an Umbreon." I said, astonished. "I didn't think that there were any of you out here in the tropics."

"So we're rare now?" she asked, annoyed with me, the emotion she had so expertly displayed earlier through her voice was now showing up well on her well lit face. "Are you gonna catch me and store me away like some sort of trophy? Or perhaps you are just one of those humans that like making us fight each other?" Her fur stood up on her back like some cornered Persian.

"No." I said in an instant, trying to diffuse the situation. "I would never do that. I didn't mean it in that way.

"Good, cause if you try to reach for a pokeball, I will bite your fingers off and throw them in the ocean before you even feel the plastic." She explained in a surprisingly calm fashion as she returned to her old state of contentedness.

"I've never been into that whole trainer craze. I always thought that stuff was a bunch of garbage and the only pokemon I ever had was my Stoutland and I didn't even really catch him so to speak."

"No?" she asked, interested.

"No, I just got him from my mom. Apparently a whole bunch of his kind were abandoned at the pokemon centre up the street from me. When she brought him home, I was so young and never even thought of capturing him. To me, he was just a friend and although a pet, I still respected him even though he couldn't talk like you."

"You talk about him in the past tense and he isn't here with you now..."

"That's because he's dead." I said abruptly.

"Oh..." she said, caught off guard. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I replied. "It's just something natural, something one has to deal with when one has a longer lifespan than their companions."

"I understand what you mean." she said. "I sometimes find it difficult coping with the same problem. We Umbreon tend to live much longer than most pokemon. Even humans. Its hard seeing friends age much faster than yourself and although I haven't lost anyone yet, I'm afraid that day might come for a few of my friends in the near future. Having the luxury of expecting to live well into your second century can have both its ups and downs."

"A second century..." I contemplated. It seemed like everyone wanted more time. I never imagined that someone could be upset over living longer. "How old are you now?" I asked quickly.

"Well, that's a question I don't get often..." she said, blushing a little under her black fur.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend." I replied.

"No, it's okay." she explained, smiling. "Come to think of it..." she said, not really knowing where she was going with her sentence. "I think I'm around seventy five... I think I lost count somewhere a while ago though."

"Well, you certainly don't look old enough to be my grandma. You look quite youthful." I said, making her rings crackle brightly in amusement and her muzzle turn a deeper shade of pink. "Again, I didn't mean to offend you." I added to be safe.

She laughed. "No offence taken. Even most pokemon don't even recognize that my species live as long as we do." she explained. "It does make it hard looking for a mate though. Most aren't prepared to know that I will probably outlive them. It makes it hard for me to tell them..."

"I couldn't imagine doing that." I commented.

"I mean, when you can see people like those two humans that looked like they were dropped on their heads when they were kits finding each other and yet..."

"Hey. I'm not a person that is really well versed in the subject of winning mates, but I am sure you would want someone that isn't intoxicated to be your partner. I'm sure you will find someone who will be accepting of you that can still remember you the next day."

She contemplated that for a moment. "Yes, perhaps." she finally said, staring vacantly out at the ocean, watching how the waves slowly crawled through the empty, black sea. I hoped that I didn't bring up something bad from her past. Finally, she broke her silence.

"You sure are a strange human." she said, giving me a small smile. "You have no interest in catching pokemon, you spend time out here alone in the dead of night and you are not scared of me even after I threatened to dismember you."

"I guess I am one of a kind." I laughed.

"Yes." she replied. "I don't even know your name, yet I am beginning to really like you and I never even thought that I would ever talk to a human."

"Well, you can call me Steven and I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance as well." I said, extending my hand a little awkwardly in an invitation for a handshake. "...and your name."

"Hmm... Steven... Nice to meet you." she said, placing her paw in my hand, attempting to do the very human gesture as well. "I guess you know my name already."

"Aysel... really?"

"Yep. Parents must have known that I would become an Umbreon. " she smiled. "...And I do like to think of myself as the queen of the night and protector of this beach... but I think I can get used to sharing this place with you..."


	2. Take a Picture Here, Take a Souvenir

Several weeks passed since I fatefully decided to step out for that midnight walk on the beach where I met Aysel. Although in the time since I first met her I began to see her as more of a friend rather than a myth perpetuated by late night radio shows, she still had a reputation to maintain among the local populace. To them, she was still a queen and a force to be reckoned with. Tonight, she and I were going to add yet another chapter to her namesake's continuing saga.

Over the next sand dune, I could easily spot a group of teenagers sitting around a campfire. They were laughing, telling jokes, drinking and having a good time. If it was me and my friends out there in the middle of the night, I probably wouldn't want to be interrupted but tonight the show had to go on.

"Ready?" Aysel asked, whispering in a hushed tone so she could not be overheard by the partiers. She had extinguished the light emitting rings on her body in order to be stealthy about the whole affair.

"Just a second." I replied, slapping on another clump of the thick brown seaweed that was endemic to the region's coast. My disguise was going to be awesome and I all I had to do was play my part competently in order for this to work. I was never good at acting and when I was forced to be in a play in middle school, I screwed up my part of Romeo so badly that the crowd actually cheered when my character ended up killing himself at the end. Tonight, I was not going to be forced to recite iambic pentameter. In fact, the less I talked, the better.

"Okay, I'm prepared when you are..." she stated, seeing how I was preparing myself for battle, so to speak. As I applied a small amount of the red sand onto my arms that were already slathered with soft mud, she smiled and winked at me. "You are going to make a great thrall."

"I know, right?" I asked rhetorically, also grinning. I was covered head to toe in elements of her domain: leaves, sand, mud, seaweed and shells. The only thing that remained to make this work was a vacant stare and a couple of scared teenagers to spread the word of their paranormal encounter. "I think I am good now." I finally told her, after letting the last grains of sand fall upon my body.

"Good... just remember the plan. I will go there..."

"...and that's when I told the waiter that I am not even a little bit Scottish." one of the teenagers around the campfire joked, to the laughing approval of his friends. "I don't even know why he thought that I had an accent. He must have been slower than Internet Explorer!" he wheezed, trying to speak through a fit of alcohol-induced laughter. I could tell that he was probably the unofficial leader of the group, his charisma leaked from every pore even when drunk.

He was surrounded by three of his friends, two females lay sprawled on a beach towel across from him, listening to his story very intently. By the way he eyed them both as he spoke, I could tell that he was probably going to try to score with at least one of them that evening. His other friend (who was probably not going to be so lucky that night) sat adjacent to him, a cup of booze in one hand and a bag of Doritos in the other one. He was shoving the synthetic orange snack food so rapidly into his mouth that when he tried laughing at his friends jokes, an old-faithful worthy spray of processed cheese spewed from his mouth. Luckily, he was facing the campfire and not his friends. They were probably too drunk to care anyways.

From my vantage point, I could see several empty beer bottles scattered around them. Both Aysel and I had noticed a recent increase in the amount of garbage that had been piling up on the beach. Perhaps they were to blame? If so, they were definitely going to pay tonight. Luckily, they couldn't see me spying on them even though I was literally standing within twenty feet of their locale. Their eyes were pathetically weak, even compared to mine. They were going to be the perfect victims.

"Who dares trespass on the territory of the mighty Aysel, huntress of the red mountains?" my Umbreon companion shouted into the dark mid-evening night.

The partiers nearly jumped out of their seats from shock due to the forceful declaration. The fat guy nearly choked on his drink, spitting it all over the place due to an uncontrollable reflex.

He looked around, twitching his head in every direction in an effort to find the perpetrator. "Who said that?" he asked, hoping to get an answer from a friendly prankster rather than the mythical queen of the night herself. There was no answer.

"This isn't funny, you know." the leader of the group added, a little agitated, but at the same time equally frightened of the disembodied voice. He too was trying to identify the source of the voice, but like his fat friend, he was unsuccessful.

"Oh my god, this is the same thing that happened to Bill and Tina..." One of the girls piped in, probably referencing the story discussed on Shore to Shore on the night I met Aysel. "Oh my god... oh my god... It's going to happen again." she whimpered, pressing herself against her female compatriot, scared stupid.

"I am a god and you will listen to me!" Aysel demanded, now addressing them from another hidden angle, confusing them further.

"Fuck! Where did she go?" The other girl cursed, her friend shivering uncontrollably under her arm. "I swear I just saw her. Where the hell is she?"

"You give me no choice, you all must be punished for your sin of sins!" my partner in this mummer's farce announced quite authoritatively. "Tonight, I will possess your souls as compensation for your crimes. Tonight you join my ranks among my servants of the dead!"

That sentence was my queue. This was my moment to move in and show them just exactly how they were going to pay for their indiscretion.

"Man, I am not feeling comfortable at all right now." The fat dude said, letting his booze fall to the sand beneath his folding chair before standing up. "I vote we split right now." He gestured towards the city lights behind him, pointing his thumb over his shoulder.

"No man. Just sit down" the other guy told him, commandingly. "this is just some punk trying to ruin our night. She isn't going to do anything..."

"Oh my god, he's going after Kenny!" the scared girl shouted as I approached the campfire, staggering as if I was a corpse possessed by the evil forces of a dark god, my feet dragging through the thick sand as I stumbled towards the chubby teenager. My eyes focused on him in a vacant stare. My soul was gone and his was next.

As I placed my grimy hand on his shoulder, he turned his head to face me and gave the most blood-curdling shrill wail as his eyes met mine. To this date, I have never heard a male human scream in such a high pitch as this portly man did.

"Souls..." I groaned in a low tone reminiscent of the zombies out of The Night of the Living Dead.

All hell metaphorically then broke loose. The two girls shot out of their spots on their blanket, while my victim leapt from his seat, grabbing his chair as the three of them took off in the direction of the street, leaving behind their fire and the rest of their booze.

The fourth one, the leader, took a little bit longer than the others. Even to the last minute, he was trying to put a lid on the situation. He didn't believe our act. "Come on, are you people serious? This guy is just faking, he can't possibly be a zombie. Couldn't you tell that he was throwing his voice to confuse us?" He tried asking his friends, who were now booking it away from where he was standing.

He sighed, turning back to look at me. "Souls?" I asked expectantly, not anticipating that one of them would be left in the wake of my performance.

"Oh shut up..." he said sarcastically, before turning around and following his friends off into the lights of the city.

As I watched them disappear down one of the many roads leading into the metropolis, I noticed Aysel emerge out of the shadows and into the light of the bonfire. I kind of wanted to give her a high-five, but then realized that she was a pokemon that could probably not perform the action due to her lack of hands.

Regardless, we both still had a good laugh as we cleaned up the site of the party. "Did you see the look on her face?" my pitch-coloured partner in crime asked excitedly. "She completely lost her wits after you put your hand on her friend like that."

"Yeah, I can just imagine what they are going to say over the radio." I pondered aloud, using one of their empty beer bottles to pour seawater over their fire. "I'll have to save the podcast when it comes out so we can both listen to it one evening." I suggested.

"Sounds like fun." She replied, trying to hunt down and collect all of the assorted trash that the partiers had discarded during their fete.

I had been introducing Aysel to some of the boons of human technology during the past few times I had hung out with her on the beach. Last time, I showed her my Ipod which contained the extract of her first victim's revelation on Shore to Shore. The technology was seemingly supernatural to her, the work of magic. It seemed odd to me that in this day and age, one could have an intelligent conversation with someone who had never had the opportunity to use what the public deemed mundane technology.

Then again, I had to remind myself that although Aysel was my friend, she was at the end of the day, still a pokemon. She had the mental faculties of any person who I interacted with at college but at the same time, she lived a very primitive existence. While I lived in a comfortable dorm room, she still lived in a den and scavenged for food.

Society deemed them incapable of being civilized the same way our species had become. That is why we're legally allowed to capture them and keep them as pets. I believed that idea for a while as most people did in the world, until I met Aysel. My Stoutland, Rupert had been a loyal companion, but he had never demonstrated any higher level of intelligence than being able to fetch and roll over when commanded to. It seemed unfair to me that my new friend who was able to help me edit several of my English essays over the last semester was lumped into the same category as my lovable mutt.

I sighed audibly as I picked up the last of the rubbish in Aysel's pile. We had nearly filled one of the municipality's waste bins by the end of our little clean-up operation. "I doubt that they would have picked up any of this even if we didn't disturb them." I pontificated.

"You wouldn't believe how much human stuff washes up near my den. It's just disgusting. Like come on." she said, a little irritated, yet still trying to use sarcasm to be humorous. "The garbage can is literally a couple steps away from them, even for me, yet they throw all of their trash all over the beach. You know, this is exactly why we shouldn't have humans near this place at all." she muttered, as though she was saying a universal truth that no one ever paid attention to.

"You know, I'm a human and I wouldn't do that." I reminded her.

"Oh, sorry." she suddenly looked a little embarrassed because of what she said. "I kind of forget sometimes. I'm not used to being around people..."

"I do agree with you though, most people are just complete idiots." I added, to not make her feel like she was wrong in saying what she said. "Most don't even have a thought for anyone but themselves but at the same time, they are not all like that."

"I guess." She said. "But you have to remember, when I was still a child, all of this was just a tiny settlement." She motioned with her paw at the glitzy main street of the town. "My parents used to tell me stories of how this whole area used to be completely empty of tourists and free of buildings. I sometimes can't help but imagining what this place would be like if I was around when they were young. It would have been like a paradise along this beach."

Her expression was of both sadness and pleasant reminiscence as she explained herself. I didn't really know what to say to that. I was sympathetic with her and shared her negative thoughts about society, but I kind of felt like I was guilty by association as I was just as human as those partiers that threw their refuse all over her beach.

"You know, we still have half an evening left and we've chased off all the noisemakers. Want to go back to our usual spot and enjoy the beach while we have the chance?" She asked.

"That sounds really nice." I agreed. "At least we have the solitude of the evening to ourselves, even though the lights of the city are a bit of a distraction."

"I'll race you back." She offered with a smirk on her face.

"Sure, it's on." I replied, seconds before she took off into the night-time darkness, her paws carrying her off in a flurry of red dust.

Even before I started running after her at full speed, I knew that she was going to best me. There was no way I could keep up with a pokemon that had to rely on her speed and strength to survive out in the elements.

Regardless, I still chased her back to the other side of the beach, one that was closer to the university. The place had become a kind of unofficial meeting spot for the both of us. As we didn't have any means of communication, analog or digital, we agreed to always meet in the same spot every night. It was where I first met her and it was where we got prepared for the whole zombie production earlier in the night.

By the time I got there, I was out of breath. Running in sand was hard enough on a good day, but trying to run in the dark and trying to keep up with a pokemon that could easily outdo most of any high school's track team in a sprint just added to the difficulty of the task.

I sank to my knees when I got there, my legs sinking into the soft powder beneath me.

"You are such a slowpoke." Aysel laughed, clearly not as wiped as I was.

"Those guys are way faster than I am." I joked, still trying to catch my breath as I sat next to her. "My cousin had one and it could keep up with his pickup truck for a couple city blocks on his way to work. They're as dumb as a post, but fast as hell. See, I would describe myself as more of a Snorlax without the whole incessant sleeping thing."

"No, I wouldn't say you are. Snorlaxes are probably the most annoying species on this planet. Not only are they gigantic slobs, but they also have like no spatial awareness. I had one that fell asleep for a whole day right out in front of my den. I couldn't even wake him up. He was completely impervious to any attack that I threw at him. I ended up having to spend the day out on the beach and that would not be a good experience for any nocturnal pokemon and especially not for a queen of the evening like myself."

"So what am I most like then?" I asked. "Just a plain old human?"

"Well, I would hope that you were a little bit more than that. I'd say you are kind of like a Lucario. They're generally quiet and solitary, staying away from their own species and heading out on their own to explore the world, kind of like how you ended up on the beach at night after wanting to be alone to your thoughts. I don't know if they are all like this, but the ones that I have met have always been brave and kind to those they meet on their travels."

I'm not one to take a compliment well. I kind of always feel like I don't deserve it. I blushed slightly, drawing a small smile across my face. "Well I..."

However, Aysel wasn't finished. "Of course, you do lack some of the more physical traits of the species. I mean, you do lack that cute blue and black muzzle of theirs and that puffy yellow fur on their chest. Oh, what I would give to be able to nuzzle up to a male one and run my paws through his soft fur and give him a good..."

I tried to stop myself, but I ended chuckling a little bit anyways. Aysel shot me a mean look. "Got lost in your own fantasy?" I asked.

"Well, we all have them." She stammered. "I'm pretty sure that you have them as well."

"I guess that I do have some preferences, yes." I admitted.

"So... what might those preferences be?" she asked, trying to lure me into making myself say something just as embarrassing as her.

I gave a nervous laugh. "I don't really know what to say."

"Sure you do." Aysel replied. "I told you who I think is attractive, now you tell me your idea of attractiveness. I'm curious now." A certain fire lit in her eyes, she had the universal desire to know something juicy, scandalous.

"Okay then. I'm attracted to human females that have..." I thought about it for a moment to not say something stupid. "...dark brown hair. I find it really sexy." I continued, somewhat artificially.

"That's just lame." Aysel countered. "You must like something more than that. I know that a lot of the other male humans on this beach always seem to drool over females that have large breasts. I bet you do too, don't you?"

She was trying to get a rise out of me. "I can't say that I don't." I said, becoming more and more embarrassed by the second. I really didn't like talking about things like this. My skin tone was becoming as red as my grandma's borscht.

"I've always found that strange." Aysel continued. "Among pokemon, the trait of having large breasts is very rare. Perhaps the only species that I have seen that has such comically large boobs are Gardevoirs and everyone knows they are lusted after by half of the trainers in the league. If I was one of them, it would just add another reason why I never want to be captured." She scoffed.

"Well, I would never do that." I stated reflexively, not wanting to get lumped in with some of the more famous cases of trainers that had got caught in the act with their pokemon.

For most, it was a death sentence for their careers as professional trainers. It was probably one of the worst stigmas people could be associated with in this day and age. An equivalent to the torment one would probably receive at the hands of his or her family and friends would probably be equal to someone who came out as gay in the 1920s..

"Do what?" She asked. "Capture a pokemon or mate with a pokemon?"

"Either." I replied, casually. I had a strange inkling that the question was loaded.

"I can understand you not wanting to capture me, but I can't understand why you would not be interested in having a relationship with a pokemon."

I didn't understand where this was going. "For starters, like you said yourself, a pokemon in my care would be at my mercy. It would be wrong for me to force myself on anyone who I was supposed to take care of. It would be a breach of trust." I said simply.

"Of course... of course." She pondered, as if gauging my reaction in order to determine what to say next. As she paused to think, a heavy awkward stillness surrounded the two of us.

The two of us stared at the ocean for a bit. I wondered what she was thinking. I couldn't help but think I somehow inadvertently dodged the question she asked me. I know I didn't mean to. It was an innocent enough query. Wasn't it?

"I apologize if I made you feel uncomfortable there." She finally said, after a while. Her tone was one that was a much less excited than before, her mood dampened. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot in any way."

"Don't be sorry." I apologized. "It's more my fault. I have never been able to talk about these things openly without getting awkward, never mind even attempt to try to have a relationship with a member of my own species." I replied, glumly.

"Why not?" Aysel asked back at me. "I don't know why you couldn't find someone who would like you."

I smiled, not blushing this time. "I don't really know why either. I'm just not that good with females. If I'm attracted to any of them, I just get intimidated and freeze up, not wanting to do anything stupid. I usually end up blowing my chance at any kind of romantic relationship. I usually feel angry at myself afterwards but..."

Aysel interrupted me. "Don't be so harsh on yourself. I'm sure you'll find someone."

"I kind of vaguely remember telling you that the first day I met you."

"Maybe you should take those words to heart."

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed, in a way, understanding my phrase for the first time.

I sat there in silence for a while, listening to the waves lap at the beach in front of us, contemplating what she said.

"Thanks." I said, almost absentmindedly.

"Thanks for what?" she asked, metaphorically raising an eyebrow.

"You know, just for being here to talk to. I've never been this far from home before and I've never felt so isolated."

"Don't worry about it. It's quite nice for me as well. Believe it or not, but living by myself in this place can also wear on you. I've kind of gotten tired of talking to myself." She replied. "Plus, I'd never thought that I would ever have the opportunity to actually meet a human before. You've kind of made me revaluate what I previously thought about your kind."

"Oh, that reminds me. I just heard this one today... knock knock."

"Not one of these again." Aysel sighed, doing her version of a facepalm using her forepaws. "Of all the things your species has created this is by far the..."

"Come on, they are not that bad." I said, sarcastically. "Humour me."

"Fine... Who's there?"

"To"

"To who?"

"To whom."

She kind of stared blankly at me before finally arriving at a horrific realization of what the pun of the line was. "That is honestly the most terrible joke I have ever heard." she said with a small wire of a smile.

"Sorry," I apologized while laughing at her expression. "I just heard it in my English class this morning and I just had to use it on someone today."

"...and it had to be me?"

"Well, I am trying to get you used to some human customs. Knock knock jokes are a cornerstone of our culture's method of joke delivery."

"Somehow I doubt that, but I appreciate the effort. It's nice to know at least one human is trying to make amends with the queen of the night." She said, nuzzling my arm affectionately. "Hey, you know come to think of it... I think I've got one ready too."

"Alright... shoot." I replied, looking over to the ebony eeveelution to the left of me.

"Ivysaur."

"Ivysaur who?

"Ivysaur knuckle from knocking on your door!"

"I've created a monster."

We both laughed.

Much later, after saying goodbye to my friend, I stumbled back into the campus, a little more than tired after having such an eventful night. My insomnia must have begun to have less of a hold on me.

When I got back to my room, I stripped down, removing my dirty garments. I knew my clothes were toast, no amount of trips through the washing machine could possibly get them looking anywhere near new again. It was a shame, but knowing that I helped protect Aysel's beach made the action of tossing my previously good clothes into the rubbish bin a little easier on the way to the washroom.

I quickly jumped into the shower, letting the water wash away all the accumulated dirt and sand that had been caked on every surface of my body save my eyes. As I washed, I couldn't help but think of what I said to Aysel.

Falling in love with a pokemon was a no-no, but the more I thought about her, the more I began to realize that she was perhaps the only person so far in my life that was compatible with me. I didn't freeze up in her presence. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I really felt right at home, conversing with her late at night.

Perhaps it was the fact that for the first time, I had someone other than my Stoutland to spend my lonely insomnia-induced nights with. Someone I could actually talk to.

I told her that she would eventually find someone when I first met her. I didn't intend that person to be me... Did I?

I couldn't help but imagine that the warm water running down my body was really the caress of my friend, Aysel. I knew pokemon showed affection by licking their mate's face, kind of like how humans kissed each other. I kind of wished the wet spray of water was actually Aysel's tongue lapping at my cheek.

As I turned the water off, I half wished that my feelings would run down the drain along with the water. I was only winding myself up. Even if I managed to say that I loved her without doing something stupid, she still was as much a pokemon as the day I met her. Sure, she was a little more accustomed to human culture, but she could never be a part of it and I kind of doubted that she would want to anyways.

I didn't know what to do. I needed some time and I needed some sleep. It was almost daybreak and it was one of those rare occasions where I felt like I could actually get a little bit of sleep.

I nodded off quickly, my arm pressing one of my pillows close to my chest and I dreamed of being in love, blissfully unaware of what would happen the next day.


End file.
